Oscar Pistorius Evaluators Say Athlete Has No Mental Defect

A picture taken on January 26, 2013 shows Olympian sprinter Oscar Pistorius posing next to his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/AFP/Getty Images

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Paralympian Oscar Pistorius didn’t
suffer from a mental defect when he killed his girlfriend Reeva
Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year, a 30-day psychiatric
assessment of the athlete found.

Pistorius’s murder trial resumed today at the High Court in
Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, with Prosecutor Gerrie Nel
reading from the report of three psychiatrists and a
psychologist who carried out the evaluation to determine whether
the double amputee is competent to stand trial for killing
Steenkamp.

“Mr. Pistorius did not suffer from a mental defect or
mental illness at the time of the commission of the offense that
would have rendered him criminally not responsible for the
offenses charged,” Nel told the court, reading from the report.
“Mr. Pistorius was capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of
his act and of acting in accordance with the appreciation of the
wrongfulness of his act.”

Nel had requested the assessment after a forensic
psychiatrist called by the defense said Pistorius has a
generalized anxiety disorder that may have affected his actions
when he shot Steenkamp.

Pistorius, 27, says he thought Steenkamp was a burglar when
he fired four shots through a locked toilet cubicle door in a
bathroom at his home. The prosecution says he killed her after
an argument.

Forensic Psychiatrist

Nel asked the court to send Pistorius for an assessment
after saying testimony by Merryll Vorster, a forensic
psychiatrist at the Johannesburg-based University of the
Witwatersrand, suggested the defense was preparing a third
explanation for the shooting. The prosecutor questioned why the
defense asked Vorster for an evaluation weeks after he testified
in a trial that started March 3.

Pistorius originally pleaded self-defense and later, under
cross-examination, said he fired the gun by accident.

Defense lawyer Barry Roux has portrayed Pistorius as a
victim of crime who was in a loving relationship with Steenkamp.
Nel has tried to show him as a short-tempered gun-lover who shot
his girlfriend in a fit of rage.

Vorster testified that Pistorius is depressed and that his
grief is genuine. Nel said the athlete, who frequently broke
down or vomited during the trial, only became emotional during
his testimony when he was asked difficult questions.

‘Dangerous Situation’

Gerald Versfeld, an orthopedic surgeon who amputated
Pistorius’s lower legs when he was 11 months old, testfied today
that on his stumps the athlete felt unbalanced and vulnerable.

“On his stumps he is seriously vulnerable in a dangerous
situation with a severely impaired ability to flee, severely
impaired ability to ward off danger, without a weapon, and in
danger of falling should he put the stump down incorrectly,” he
told the court.

The defense also called acoustics engineer Ivan Lin to
testify whether Pistorius’s screams could sound like a woman’s.
State witnesses have testified that they heard a woman screaming
on the morning Steenkamp was killed.

“Although typically one can differentiate a male and
female scream, but one cannot say it reliably without
exception,” Lin told the court.

Gun Charges

Pistorius would face a minimum of 25 years in jail if
convicted of murder. He denies the charge and has also pleaded
not guilty to three separate gun-related charges. If Pistorius
is declared mentally incompetent, he can’t stand trial and would
have to submit to psychiatric treatment.

Judge Thokozile Masipa, who will give the final judgment in
the case because South Africa doesn’t have a jury system, could
also consider a lesser charge of culpable homicide if she rules
that the act wasn’t intentional.

Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped
prosthetic running blades, Pistorius has been free on 1 million
rand ($94,000) bail since February last year. He won six
Paralympic gold medals and was the first double-amputee to
compete at the Olympic Games.